The Government of Ghana has announced plans to roll out a fresh nationwide SIM card re-registration exercise, citing shortcomings in the previous registration process.
The announcement was made by the Minister for Communication, Innovations and Digital Technologies, Samuel Nartey George, during his keynote address at the 2026 Data Protection Commission Conference.
According to the Minister, the decision follows what he described as challenges and gaps in the last SIM registration exercise.
“The failure in the last SIM card registration has left us with a difficult but necessary decision,” he said. “After extensive Cabinet deliberations, we are announcing the beginning of a new SIM card registration process across the country.”
Mr. George explained that this new exercise will be markedly different from previous efforts. For the first time, registrations will include live verification against the National Identification Authority (NIA) database, alongside full biometric authentication for every subscriber.
He assured the public that lessons have been learned from the past exercise, which was widely criticised for long queues and tight deadlines.
“This registration will prioritise the comfort of customers,” he stated. “We are working closely with the Chamber of Telecoms to eliminate long queues by introducing self-service portals and creating a seamless registration process.”
He further emphasised that the new system will avoid unrealistic timelines. “You won’t have the queues. You won’t have the unreachable deadlines we saw previously. We are making sure that the citizen is placed at the centre of this registration,” he added.
The Minister also disclosed that the National Communications Authority is currently engaging stakeholders on the rollout strategy.
Importantly, he stressed that data protection will be a top priority. The Data Protection Commission, he noted, will play a central role in overseeing the exercise to ensure that biometric data collected is handled with strict safeguards.
“Even as biometric data is collected and processed, it must be done with the principal consideration of protecting the customer,” Mr. George said. “Trust must be elevated above all other considerations.”
Further details on timelines and modalities for the new SIM re-registration exercise are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.